A year after the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, seven investigations are ongoing in France. A permanent job for French judges and investigators who have to cope with the physical distance to the crime scene and limited resources.
“The judiciary needs the time to gather evidence so that it can be established. It’s very long, but I understand it.” Sylvie Imhoff takes on her trouble patiently. A year after the start of the war in Ukraine, investigations into the death of his son Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff are ongoing. The 32-year-old photo reporter working for BFMTV was killed by shrapnel on May 30, 2022 while covering an evacuation operation for civilians near Severodonetsk in the Luhansk region. The National Counter-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat), which houses the Judicial Center for Combating Crimes Against Humanity (CCH), War Crimes and Crimes, launched an investigation into the process.
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Less than a month later, the Counter-Terrorism Prosecutor received the mother and wife of Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff. “Jean-François Ricard told us that everything is being done to gather evidence and that one day a trial can take place,” explains Sylvie Imhoff, who “wants justice to be done [s]her son and all the journalists who died in Ukraine,” says Anne-Sophie Pourquery de Boisserin, sister of Pierre Zakrzewski. This Franco-Irish journalist for Fox News died in the attack on his vehicle Horenka, northwest of Kiev, on March 14, 2022. Pourquery de Boisserin hopes that “all light will be shed on the death of [s]we brother.”
“Indispensable” international aid
The French judiciary shows the same determination. A total of seven investigations into war crimes count X have been initiated since the beginning of the Russian offensive in Ukraine. None are still in the teaching phase, which means that families do not have access to all test results. Two of them concern the facts to which Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff and Pierre Zakrzewski fell victim because they were French nationals. The other five relate to acts against French nationals during their stay in Ukraine, specifically in Mariupol, Gostomel and Tchernihiv. These French are alive but suffered tank fire, bombing or violence at the hands of soldiers in February and March 2022. So many facts “could likely qualify as war crimes,” a term codified by international law that covers many crimes, including attacks on civilians.
A judge has been mobilized almost full-time for several months to conduct investigations into suspected war crimes in Ukraine. An imperative given the surge in activity triggered by the conflict. The funds of the CCH are limited. It brings together just five judges and three assistants specializing in international law to follow no fewer than 173 cases, cover around thirty geographical areas and organize trials. “This requires a great deal of professional investment and prioritizing what’s most urgent,” agrees Aurélie Belliot, assistant counter-terrorism prosecutor at the pole’s helm, who is hoping for the arrival of a sixth judge.
On a daily basis, all judges work alongside their counterparts in each country and at the International Criminal Court (ICC), sometimes with the support of Eurojust, the European Union’s judicial cooperation unit. Because international legal assistance is “essential” in these cases, emphasizes Aurélie Belliot. In Ukraine, the conflict is well documented. In order to follow the course of events as well as possible and to identify those responsible, the investigators organize themselves in the long term to collect evidence, mainly from tips from NGOs, but also thanks to released data.
Field research in the middle of the war
The investigations are being conducted by investigators from the Central Office for Combating Crimes Against Humanity and Hate Crimes (OCLCH). “We are the armed wing of the Pnat,” says General Jean-Philippe Reiland, who heads this office attached to the gendarmerie. Within the Europa group, a seven-person cell dedicated to Ukraine carries out “rather classic” investigative work, according to the general. With one exception and last but not least: “The scene of the crime escapes us: it is not on national territory and is difficult to access.”
It is therefore important to go there to understand what might have happened. Despite the pitfalls of a country at war, three members of the Pnat and seven gendarmes succeeded, thanks to “judicial coordination with the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office,” notes judge Aurélie Belliot. “We stayed a week in September and left with a suitcase full of minutes,” reports the OCLCH commander. These reports, written by the Ukrainian authorities, were then handed over to French investigators. “We are here as guests. We see what they’re doing, we can lead the investigation, but we don’t lead it,” General Reiland explains. A practice that applies to every sovereign state.
“We made observations at the spot where Pierre Zakrzewski’s vehicle was hit and then at the wreckage of the car, which was found in a junkyard in a suburb of Kiev.”
General Jean-Philippe Reiland, commander of the Central Office for the Suppression of Crimes Against Humanity
at franceinfo
French judges and investigators accompanied their Ukrainian colleagues to the crime scenes. The samples were taken by two experts from the Criminal Research Institute of the National Gendarmerie (IRCGN), members of the mission. The aim was also to “look for witnesses around the site of the explosion” and to question them using “French standards”.
Because in the midst of the 70,000 files running in Ukraine, these seven “mirror investigations” are just “a drop in the ocean”. “We go into detail. We collect as much information as possible in order to move forward”, such as the “description of the alleged perpetrators” or that of the “uniform”, adds Jean-Philippe Reiland. “The investigations are progressing quickly and well,” says Clémence Witt, lawyer for Pierre Zakrzewski’s family. The fact that they are being conducted by a joint investigative team from France, Ireland and Ukraine facilitates their progress.
Discreet investigations
However, some information is only available “through the words of the victims,” emphasizes the general. For this reason, the hearing of the relatives is very often the starting point of the investigation, especially in the case of the two journalists who were killed. “I was questioned for an entire afternoon about Frédéric’s career, personality and actions in Ukraine,” says Sylvie Imhoff, who met with an OCLCH investigator in September. But in the files on suspicions of war crimes against French nationals, certain hearings have not yet taken place. At least not in the way some people imagined.
So did Aurélien, who was living with his Ukrainian wife in Gostomel in the Kiev region when the war broke out. His home was bombed on March 1, 2022. The couple took refuge with neighbors for ten days, sleeping on the floor. Both were then able to cross the Polish border and reach Hérault, where Aurélien is from. “Officials came to take our testimony separately for a whole day,” says the 28-year-old, still scarred by what he experienced. If he is satisfied to be able to provide an “A to Z account of the facts”, he regrets the rejection of his application for witness protection and would like to be informed about the progress of the investigation. “We’re in a gray area. It’s a shame,” he said bitterly.
“I found out through relatives that investigators had traveled to Ukraine.”
Aurélien, French national, victim of bombing in Gostomel
at franceinfo
“For security reasons, no one is notified before our trips. But when we return, everyone involved will have been notified,” replies Assistant Prosecutor Aurélie Belliot. “We take great care of the victims,” assures the judge, adding that the associations required by the Pnat can accompany them.
“Determining complex crimes”
Despite everything, Aurélien believes in justice. “The investigators told me that maybe in two, three or … 10 years there would be a trial. Unfortunately, tomorrow is not the day before yesterday … It is not easy to find the perpetrators, even if only the regiment”, he is arguing. “We are conducting the investigations with the aim of enabling a court to assess the authors and those responsible for these facts,” emphasizes Aurélie Belliot, who wants to recall the importance of “a criminal response” to the abuses give committed.
It doesn’t matter which court or state the trial is in. The Pnat works “in the service of international law”. This means that the elements collected as part of a French investigation can be sent to Ukraine, to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague (Netherlands), to Germany or to any other country to try war displaced persons for crimes or crimes against humanity. The opposite is also possible, notes Aurélie Belliot: “These states or the ICC can provide elements to judge an author in our country.”
It is too early to give a deadline for the facts regarding Ukraine. The deputy prosecutor admits that “climbing up the chain of responsibility” is always difficult and “detecting criminal offenses is time-consuming.” However, the judge wishes to recall that the trials remain in the field of vision of the French judiciary because they “go in the direction of the measures taken”: “What matters is that the perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity do not remain unpunished .”